In need of some encouragement - another possibility

[Israel Stein]

At 10:47 AM 9/8/2006, "David B. Stang" <stangdave at columbus.rr.com> wrote:

>Friends,
>I'm feeling a little bit discouraged for two reasons.
>
>First, I am really struggling with my aural temperament tuning. I 
>understand intellectually how it is supposed to fit together, how 
>all the intervals ought to beat, and so on. But I have been 
>practicing at home and at customers' homes for a few months now, and 
>I still just can't do it right. By "do it right" I mean get it close 
>enough to pass the RPT exam (I use my ETD to test myself). My main 
>problem, I think, is, I just can't always hear the beats. For 
>instance, I can nearly always hear the F3-A3 Major 3rd, and the 
>F3-D4 6th. But I struggle to hear the A3-C#4 and especially struggle 
>to hear the C#4-F4. I can't percieve those faster beats. And 
>sometimes I can't hear the beating even when it's supposed to be 
>slow. Sometimes the 5ths and 4ths are loud and clear; other times 
>they are not there at all. Are my ears the problem? Is it my brain?

David,

One possibility that I have not yet seen mentioned is ear fatigue. 
Your account of sometimes being able to hear the beats and at other 
times not suggests this possibility. Ear fatigue affects novice 
tuners much sooner than experienced ones - endurance is built up over time.

When listening intently to fairly loud sounds, your ear tends to shut 
down after a while and refuses to process any more information. It's 
a protective reaction. This is why when we were taught tuning at the 
North Bennet Street School, we started with fairly short practice 
sessions - about 10-15 minutes - and gradually lengthened them to 
hours in the tuning booths. Apparently, as we gradually subject our 
ears to ever lengthening periods of the "abuse" of listening intently 
to test blows, they build up endurance and stop "shutting down".

Another feature of our training was extensive practice tuning unisons 
and octaves for a long time, before attempting temperaments. This 
developed both our sensitivity to beats and our "aural endurance" so 
that by the time we were working on temperaments, we could actually 
maintain our acute hearing ability long enough to tune a rudimentary 
temperament. It takes beginners a long time to tune a temperament - 
speed comes with practice. If your ear "shuts down" before you can 
complete your temperament - you suddenly stop hearing those fifths 
and fourths beats that were so clear before... I suspect that many 
self-taught beginner tuners can avoid a lot of frustration with 
temperament tuning if they have the patience to do sufficient unison 
and octave practice before attempting temperaments. And with ETDs 
supplying an adequate temperament on which to base octaves, this 
should be fairly easy.

Anyway, next time you find yourself not hearing beats that you have 
been able to hear before (like those of fourths or fifths) give your 
ears a break. Do a repair, make up an invoice or a tuning report for 
your customer (always a good way to project a more professional image 
and build business). Or simply take a break - it's time well spent.

Israel Stein




>Second, I am discouraged with my business. I could use some more 
>customers. I have gotten every kind of marketing advice imaginable - 
>that's not what I need. I am unhappy because I am kind of shy, and I 
>just don't do some of those assertive things that many business 
>people do. It doesn't come naturally for me to sell myself. (Like my 
>friend Jon Ralinovsky who was just e-ridiculed on this list, for 
>simply posting the link to the Cincinnati Seminar without tooting 
>his own horn about the good stuff he has lined up!) Maybe I don't 
>have the right personality to run my own business.